Google "Rashid Rauf - mastermind". On the first page of results you will find CBS, the BBC, the Times, Guardian and Mail all describing Rauf last summer, on security service or police briefing, as the "Mastermind" behind the "Liquid terror bomb plot". So the fact that a Pakistani court has found there is no evidence of terrorism against him cannot be lightly dismissed by the cheerleaders of the plot story.

Rashid Rauf still faces other charges, including forgery, and what is touted as possession of explosives, although what he actually possessed was hydrogen peroxide, which is not explosive. As hydrogen peroxide is readily obtainable without limitation from any chemist or hardware store in the UK, why you would source it in Pakistan to blow up jets in Britain was never very convincing. The Pakistani court perhaps felt so too.

...

Despite naming him as the "mastermind" behind somethng "bigger than 9/11", the British government made no attempt to extradite Rashid Rauf on charges of terrorism. That is not difficult to do - the Pakistani authorities have handed over scores of terrorist suspects to the US, many into the extraordinary rendition process, and on average the procedure is astonishingly quick - less than a week and they are out of the country. But the British security services, who placed so much weight on intelligence from Rashid Rauf, were extraordinarily coy about getting him here where his evidence could be properly scrutinised by a British court. However MI5 were greatly embarassed by Birmingham police, who insisted on pointing out that Rauf was wanted in the UK over the alleged murder of his uncle in Birmingham. Now he was in custody in Pakistan, shouldn't we extradite him? So eventually an extradition request over that murder was formally submitted - but not pursued with real energy or effort. There remains no sign that we will see Rauf in the UK.
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Three big phantom-terror events have been perpetrated in the last three years, in which no-on was harmed, no bombs went off, and no bombs were made. Whites condemn and imprison brown-skinned Muslims, each event costing this country hundreds of millions of pounds: July 21, ‘Operation Crevice’ and the Heathrow liquid bomb hoax.

I'd also say, no-one was terrified - this should surely be the first criterion if anyone s going to invoke 'terror' laws. Some people were a bit scared on July 21st but that isn't quite the same thing.

Concerning the last of these three phantom-terror events, Prime Minister Tony Blair alerted President George Bush to the investigation on Sunday 6 August 2006. American Airlines flight 109 from London Heathrow to Boston boarded a family of five, on Sunday, 6th August, however, after the plane left Heathrow authorities determined that the father appeared on a British suspect list drawn up after the 7/7 London transit attacks. The pilot was instructed to fly to Boston but refused, fearing for the safety of his passengers and crew, and quickly returned to Heathrow without informing the passengers. Once on the ground, it was discovered that the male had in his carry-on baggage the type of combination liquid explosive and electronic device now being hyped by the British and American media. (Prison Planet) On 9th August the story broke of ten planes UK-US 'targeted' and 24 suspects were arrested.

One assumes this was some Mossad or CIA agent, on board on the 6th. So the questions ought to be: was he arrested with the two dozen others, and did the others arrested have any connection with him?

Does anyone testify that this guy arrested on 6th August had hydrogen peroxide mixed with acetone, plus a separate phial of sulphuric acid, in his hand luggage? That is implicit in the story we are told – and the trial will start next year in 2008 - for ‘binary liquid explosive.’ It couldn’t have worked of course (to make TATP - that takes a good twelve hours after mixing in a fridge), the chemistry is impossible, but as no-one tried to do it maybe this doesn’t matter so much?

Each of these totally bogus phantom-terror events relies on extreme gullibility of the British media. They are in the wake of 7/7, where the Vampire Elite is milking this real terror event to get the most Fear out of it, presumably with the aim of getting their next war on.

I'm suggesting that these three events have a great deal in common, eg 'Crevice' and the Heathrow bomb hoax seem both to have relied on a torture confession in Pakistan. Thre binary liquid munutions story comes straight out of Hollywood and has no chemical feasibilty.

I reckon the best comment on this non-event is on the Voltaire network,
www.voltairenet.org/article143264.html
'The Liquid Bomb hoax: The larger implications' by James Petras
which well shows the sheer, pathetic absurdity of the whole fake-terror Heathrow plot. Every MP should be obliged to read this.

Of the 24 suspects arrested, British-born Muslims, some of Pakistani descent, in London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, those detained included a soccer fan, cricket players, a taxi driver, an accountant and his nursery teacher wife who is expecting a baby within a few weeks, a security guard with a three-week old baby, a pizza worker, a tyre businessman and a science student. We'd like to hear: did they know each other? Do they reckon they were connected at all? Had any of them heard of this Birmingham lad Rashid Rauf (the plot seems to have been cooked up from the ISI torturing him in Pakistan while some MI6 agent was standing by).

Also concerning the strange story (which I only found on Prison Planet) about somebody being apprehended onthe 6th on an airplane, do any of those arrested know anything about this?

A US-bound plane carrying 240 passengers was turned around mid-flight for security reasons.

American Airlines flight 109 left for Boston on Monday, but two hours into the journey it turned back to Heathrow Airport in west London.

Scotland Yard said four people were being "spoken to" at Heathrow, but no-one had been arrested.

A spokesman for Boston's Logan Airport said one passenger's name matched a name on the "no-fly" list.

There were 240 passengers and 13 crew members on board the Boeing 777 aircraft, which was due to touch down in Boston at 1805 BST.

But it was back on the runway at Heathrow by about 1530 BST.

'Security issue'

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said four people were being spoken to under port and border controls - a section of the Terrorism Act under which a person can be questioned and detained for up to nine hours.

But she stressed they had not been arrested.

In a statement, American Airlines said the plane returned to Heathrow "due to a security issue that needed to be resolved in London".

It added: "American Airlines has cancelled the flight and is working to rebook passengers on alternative flights to Boston.

"American Airlines regrets the inconvenience caused to its customers."

"Put simply, this was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson from the Metropolitan Police at the time. Nothing had actually happened, no bomb had been taken on board a plane - no-one had even made one. So what was all the fuss about? Why all the plane cancellations at Heathrow, costing hundreds of millions in delays and lost flights, and why can’t we take toothpaste in hand luggage any more? Britain’s new anti-terror legislation, where you don’t actually have to do anything to get arrested, had swung into action. Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, on holiday during these events in Barbados at Sir Cliff Richard's luxury villa, decided to stay there.

The COBRA meeting began on 9.30 pm on the 9th August 2006, in the high-tech bunker deep below the Cabinet Office. The police raids began at midnight, with 24 suspects arrested, British-born Muslims, some of Pakistani descent, from London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe. It was an overnight operation, and their finances were frozen.Those detained included a soccer fan, cricket players, a taxi driver, an accountant and his nursery teacher wife who is expecting a baby within a few weeks, a security guard with a three-week old baby, a pizza worker, a tyre businessman and a science student. British police found tins of baked beans, peanut butter, some low concentration hydrogen peroxide and a sugar solution (i.e., the latter two were probably bleach or disinfectant and a cup of tea) at the suspects' homes. These apparently normal, peaceable, well-adjusted people had all been consumed with an irresistible urge to kill themselves and were prepared to kill hundreds of others, we were told (1). These arrests appeared to be the result of a long-standing investigation coordinated between the US, British and Pakistani governments.

On Thursday morning thousands of holidaymakers began arriving at airports to discover total disruption and the biggest terror alert since 7/7. It was alleged that multiple commercial aircraft were intended to be targeted, maybe for the 16th August, and that their fiendish plot aimed to destroy as many as ten aircraft in mid-flight from the United Kingdom to the United States, using explosives brought on board in their hand luggage! News media reported that planned targets included American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, and United Airlines flights from London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports to Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts; Newark, New Jersey; New York City; San Francisco, California; Cleveland, Ohio and Washington, D.C. The BBC’s security correspondent Gordon Corera said the plot involved a series of simultaneous attacks, targeting three planes each time. The plotters planned to use Lucozade bottles (or so The New York Times reported) to contain certain ‘liquid explosives’. They were going to use peroxide-based explosives, the media seemed to agree, probably the dreaded triacetone triperoxide (TATP).

These arrests were followed by the search for evidence, as the Financial Times explained: “The police set about the mammoth task of gathering evidence of the alleged terrorist bomb plot yesterday” (August 12, 2006). This was an odd reversal of normal investigatory procedures, commented the French ‘Voltairenet’ (of Thierry Meyssan), in which arrests were only supposed to happen after the gathering of evidence (2). On what basis had the arrests been made? The British government, backed by Washington, averred that the Pakistani government’s arrest of two British-Pakistanis provided “critical evidence” in uncovering the plot and identifying the alleged terrorist. The Pakistani intelligence services (ISI) are notorious for use of torture in extracting ‘confessions.’ In this case, its evidence was based on a supposed encounter between a relative of one of the suspects and an Al-Qaeda operative on the Afghan border. The Al-Qaeda agent supposedly provided the relative and thus the accused with the bomb-making information and operative instructions. But, transmission of bomb-making information hardly required a trip half-way around the world, least of all to a frontier under military siege by US-led forces on one side and the Pakistani military on the other. Were the Al-Qaeda agents in the mountains of Afghanistan supposed to have some detailed knowledge of Heathrow airport?

Prime Minister Tony Blair had alerted President George Bush to the investigation on Sunday 6 August 2006, before flying out with his family to Barbados on the 8th. Bush and Blair had discussed the matter prior to the police arrests. On 9 August, hours before the arrests, the Home Secretary John Reid gave a major speech to Demos (a British think-tank) hinting at a new round of anti-terror legislation, claiming that the country was facing

"probably the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of the second world war"

And he decried those who “don’t get it,” ie, who failed to comprehend that democratic liberties had to be surrendered to the state. He blamed them for the fact that “we remain unable to adapt our institutions and legal orthodoxy as fast as we need to,” making it clear that the required “adaptation” meant the gutting of traditional democratic rights. He raved on about:

Quote:

Sometimes we may have to modify some of our own freedoms in the short term in order to prevent their misuse and abuse by those who oppose our fundamental values and would destroy all of our freedoms in the modern world (3).

On the next day, 10th August, President George Bush commented, upon his arrival in Wisconsin:

Quote:

The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.

Israel was brutally assaulting Lebanon as Bush slipped in that key phrase ‘Islamic Fascists.’ Israel’s July invasion led to the killing of over 1,000 people and the creation of more than a million refugees who were forced to flee their homes.

The US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on August 10th described the (non-) event as an attack which had the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Inevitably, he added that ‘it certainly has some of the hallmarks of an al Qaeda plot,’ and agreed with his interviewer that, ‘this plot was the biggest terrorist threat since the attacks of September 11, 2001’. A senior congressional source averred that the plotters planned to mix ‘a sports drink with a peroxide-based paste to make an “explosive cocktail” that could be triggered by an MP3 player or cell phone.’ Uh-huh. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes bombed the heart of Beirut.

17 of the suspects were charged with conspiracy to murder and commit acts of terrorism or failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism (Did you catch that – if you don’t report to the police that someone you know might possibly be intending to do something, you are liable to be charged). Little did this (alleged) ‘group’ know that an undercover British agent had infiltrated them. On 28 August 2006, The New York Times reported that seven martyrdom tapes made by six suspects were recovered. Gigabytes of information had been confiscated from homes of dozens of suspects. Hundreds of computers and mobile phones were taken. But, that still wouldn’t give the police any connection between the persons arrested who hadn’t bought air tickets or made bombs, and a terror plot that never happened over the skies of America. The suspected ringleader Rashid Rauf in Pakistan may have had ‘extraordinary rendition’ applied to him, i.e. been tortured, to ‘confess.’

Heathrow airport was closed down, then hand luggage was forbidden, and then later on liquids were forbidden in hand luggage eg milk and toothpaste. The first day of delays cost the airlines over £175 million. Huge queues of passengers waited to check-in and get through the strengthened security procedures. On Sunday 13 August, 30% of flights out of Heathrow were cancelled to reduce pressure on the screeners. British Airlines reported that 10,000 items of baggage belonging to their passengers had gone missing while Ryanair called on the British government to employ police and military reservists to speed up the full-body searches that had become mandatory. By August 12th, the owner and operator of London Heathrow ordered all airlines using the airport to make a 30 per cent reduction in departing passenger flights. Carolyn Evans, head of flight safety at the British Airline Pilots Association, said that "the procedures put in place are not sustainable long term, and unless the passengers are treated more reasonably we will not have an industry left". In November 2006, BA claimed the increased security measures since August had cost it £100 million (3).

Amidst the madness a word of sense was spoken by former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray:

Quote:

Many [of those arrested] did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time … In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms….
Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing plot to blow up multiple planes … Of course, the interrogators of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like canaries. As I witnessed in Uzbekistan, you can get the most extraordinary information this way. The trouble is it always tends to give the interrogators all they might want, and more, in a desperate effort to stop or avert torture. What it doesn't give is the truth. (4)

Another British voice of sanity was that of political scientist Nafeez Ahmed., who expressed the view that:

Quote:

the British and American governments, for all intents and purposes, invented a terror threat in August 2006, to trigger a climate of fear and paranoia convenient for the legitimization of a political agenda of intensifying social control at home, and escalating military repression in the Middle East. (5)

He gave several talks together with munitions expert Lt. Colonel Wylde on the topic. Apart from these, the entire British media believed the story. It was a dream-hallucination from start to finish, with no semblance of rational evidence to link together those arrested and an alleged plot which never happened. According to Lieutenant-Colonel (ret.) Nigel Wylde, a former senior British Army Intelligence Officer with decades of anti-terror and explosives experience, the whole plot was a ‘fiction’ (6) and the explosives in question could not possibly have been produced on the plane. "So who came up with the idea that a bomb could be made on board? Not Al Qaeda for sure. It would not work. Bin Laden is interested in success not deterrence by failure," Wylde stated. He suggested that the plot was an invention of the UK security services in order to justify wide-ranging new security measures that threaten to permanently curtail civil liberties and to suspend sections of the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act of 1998. Wyle added that, if there was a conspiracy, "it did not involve manufacturing the explosives in the loo," as this simply "could not have worked." The process would be quickly and easily detected. The fumes of the chemicals in the toilet "would be smelt by anybody in the area." They would also inevitably "cause the alarms in the toilet and in the air change system in the aircraft to be triggered

Key information was supposed to have been obtained from Pakistan but what did Pakistan have to do with it? There’s no need to go to Pakistan to learn that mixing acetone, sulphuric acid and peroxide won’t make a bomb, especially not in an aircraft toilet – that’s only in the Hollywood movies. Those three chemicals would form a nasty mixture which would stink very badly, but they would require a freezing cabinet and a fume cupboard for the reaction to work, ie produce TATP – adding a drop of sulphuric acid at a time, taking several hours, then a day of the TATP to separate out). Also, what about the detonators? Without a detonator, its not a bomb.*

Had the alleged ringleader, 25-year old Rashid Rauf (born in Birmingham) invented the plot under torture in Pakistan, as Craig Murray suggested? Rauf attended a court hearing in Rawalpindi, on 22nd December 2006:

Quote:

Head bowed and covered by a black shawl and Muslim prayer cap, the Briton named as a ‘key suspect’ in the alleged terror plot to blow up transatlantic airliners was escorted to a court in Pakistan yesterday… Yesterday Rauf, from Birmingham, protested his innocence of any involvement in a plot. Handcuffed and flanked by 12 armed police officers, he claimed he had been framed by the authorities. ‘I have done nothing wrong but I have been framed, I am not optimistic that I will be cleared… everything against me is based on lies. (7)

Despite his prosecutors alleging that Rauf was in possession of a number of bottles of hydrogen peroxide, the court dropped the charges, ruling that this case ‘did not fall into the category of terrorism.’

An article by chemist Thomas Greene in Washington explained how the ‘binary liquid munitions’ story had come out of movies rather than a chemistry textbook :

Quote:

So the fabled binary liquid explosive - that is, the sudden mixing of hydrogen peroxide and acetone with sulfuric acid to create a plane-killing explosion, is out of the question. Meanwhile, making TATP ahead of time carries a risk that the mission will fail due to premature detonation, although it is the only plausible approach.
Certainly, if we can imagine a group of jihadists smuggling the necessary chemicals and equipment on board, and cooking up TATP in the lavatory, then we've passed from the realm of action blockbusters to that of situation comedy (.

The bomb plot hoax has caused enormous losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars not only to the airlines, but also to business people, oil companies, duty free shops, tourist agencies, resorts and hotels, not to speak of the tremendous inconvenience and health related problems of millions of stranded and stressed-out travelers. So what was the point of it? What was its purpose? We’ve already quoted Nafeez Ahmed, and let’s now hear a pertinent judgement from France’s Voltaire Network:

Quote:

Clearly the decision to cook up the phony bomb plot was not motivated by economic interests, but domestic political reasons. The Blair administration, already highly unpopular for supporting Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was under attack for his unconditional support for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, his refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire and his unstinting support for Bush’s servility to US Zionist lobbies. Even within the Labor party over a hundred backbenchers were speaking out against his policies …
The criminal frame-up of young Muslim-South Asian British citizens by the British security officials was specifically designed to cover up for the failed Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the Anglo-American backing for Israel’s destructive but failed invasion of Lebanon. Blair’s “liquid bombers” plot sacrificed a multiplicity of British capitalist interests in order to retain political offices and stave off an unceremonious early exit from power. The costs of failed militarism are borne by citizens and businesses (2).

The liquid bomb story was soon ridiculed into obscurity, after which British Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clark merely claimed that, “bomb making equipment including chemicals and electric components had been found” (9). Also, the Clark team claimed that they found ‘martyr videotapes’ in the homes of those arrested, without clarifying the fact that the videos were not made by the suspects but only viewed by them. In mid-December the police announced that they were calling off the search at a strip of woodland where bomb-making equipment had allegedly been hidden, as none of the authorities were prepared to continue funding the operation. On May 20th 2007 the arrested alleged plotters entered their plea of ‘not guilty,’ and their trial will begin in 2008.

How did it begin? Some days before the arrests, on Sunday, 6th August, American Airlines flight 109 from London Heathrow to Boston boarded a family of five, then after the plane left Heathrow authorities determined that the father appeared on a British suspect list drawn up after the 7/7 London transit attacks. The pilot was instructed to fly to Boston but refused, fearing for the safety of his passengers and crew, and quickly returned to Heathrow without informing the passengers. Once on the ground, it was discovered that the male had in his carry-on baggage the type of combination liquid explosive and electronic device now being hyped by the British and American media. That sounds a quite unlikely combination, of featuring on alleged ‘July 7th suspect’ list and carrying binary liquid explosives – no wonder no-one has released the name of this person. As Alex Jones’ Prison Planet article concluded, ‘The Israeli attack on Lebanon created a rift within Blair's Cabinet … As a result, a suspect passenger was permitted to board an American aircraft at Heathrow with a liquid bomb to lay the groundwork for the media and travel hysteria five days later’ (10).

The police responsible need to brush up on chemistry concerning what can go bang in a bomb, for example in the ‘Crevice’ trial, the mere possession of bags of a fertiliser, ammonium nitrate was enough to put Muslims in jail – whereas fertiliser-grade ammonium nitrate is made so that it will not detonate very readily (11). In the July 7th, July 21st and the Heathrow liquid bomb story, TATP featured, whereas in real life no ‘terrorist’ has used it for a bomb, maybe because it is too unstable and needs to be stored below 10° C.

It would appear that Britons are prepared to pay a heavy price for their daily dose of fear, their tingle of terror, and that politicians do now have to cater for this need, which has somehow spilled over from horror and action movies. No politician trying to claim that the British did not have an enemy, or did not need an enemy, could possibly hope to get elected. This writer would suggest that wolves should be re-introduced into selected woodlands. Possibly hearing the howling of wolves at night might satisfy the atavistic need for fear, and would obviate the continual need to have innocent Muslims banged up in jail on phantom terror allegations.

……………………………………..
* Lt. Colonel Wylde, speaking of the July 7th story, noted in relation to the criminal investigation into the 7th July terrorist attacks in London, that police and government sources have maintained "total silence" about the detonation devices used in the bombs on the London Underground and the bus at Tavistock Square. "Whatever the nature of the primary explosive materials, even if it was home-made TATP, the detonator that must be used to trigger an explosion is an extremely dangerous device to make, requiring a high level of expertise that cannot be simply self-taught or picked-up over the internet." The government's silence on the detonation device used in the attacks is "disturbing," he said, as the creation of the devices requires the involvement of trained explosives experts. Wylde speculated that such individuals would have to be present either inside the country or outside, perhaps in Eastern Europe, where they would be active participants in an international supply-chain to UK operatives. "In either case, we are talking about something far more dangerous than home-grown radicals here."

I thought to run for parliament on an abstention ticket
There are one or two UKIP people who I'd vote for happily, Gerrish in Plymouth or Jason Smith in Queensbury. But the rest - pah!
Now an abstention ticket - dont vote because it's a bullcrap system - that would seem to draw them in
Keeep those dumbasses away from the polling booths. They're all corrupt and manipulated anyway
Vote Abstention Candidate!_________________http://www.exopolitics-leeds.co.uk/introduction

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:21 am Post subject: How can this be made during 8 hour flight??

And to corroborate some of the above comments made in astro's extremely good posting above, take a look at the paragraph headed "Experimental Section" at the bottom left of page 13 of the PDF document from the Isreal Institute of Technology website at http://www.technion.ac.il/~keinanj/pub/122.pdf where it outlines how that Institute makes their experimental TATP, cooling to freezing point the RAW ingredients etc etc (let alone ingredients distilled from one's toothpaste and Coca-Cola!!).

Don't you think it would be a bit tricky making this sort of bomb material in the bog of an aircraft flying on an eight hour trip? Is it not a bit of a damning piece of information? So just how do the police think this could stand up in a court of law?

And one of the things which troubles me beyond measure is why are the media not asking this question. One of the people I've e-mailed this information to last year is the deputy editor of the Guardian, who seems completely unconcerned!!

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A British suspect in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners escaped from police custody in Pakistan on Saturday, officials said.

Rashid Rauf fled after appearing before a judge at a court in the capital, Islamabad, said Khalid Pervez, a city police official.

Police teams were driving around the area in search of Rauf, who Pervez said had managed to open his handcuffs and evade two police guards who were taking him back to jail in the nearby city of Rawalpindi.

"We do not know how he escaped. But we do know he has escaped and the two policemen have been taken into custody for negligence," Pervez told The Associated Press.

Federal Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said he had been informed of Rauf's disappearance, but had no details.

Rauf, who is of Pakistani origin, was arrested here in August 2006 on a tip from British investigators. He has been described as a key suspect in a purported plot to blow up jetliners flying from Britain to the United States which prompted a major security alert at airports worldwide and increased restrictions on carry-on items.

Rauf was arrested and charged in Pakistan with possessing chemicals that could be used in making explosives and with carrying forged travel documents.

The prosecution later withdrew the case against him, though he remained in jail awaiting a decision on the British extradition request.

Britain had asked Pakistan to hand him over in connection with a 2002 murder inquiry in Britain that is separate from the alleged terrorism plot. But Rauf's lawyer, Hashmat Habib, has sought to block the move, saying the two countries do not have an extradition treaty and that Rauf had already been found innocent of involvement in terrorism.

Members of Rauf's family have appealed to Pakistani authorities to release him, saying he is innocent and desperate to remain with his wife and two daughters.

Habib said Saturday that his client had been brought to court in connection with the extradition proceedings, but he didn't know how Rauf had escaped.

Rauf's father, reached in Birmingham, 200 miles north of London, said he did not know about his son's escape.

Having stumbled across the one weakness in the dastardly cunning plan he is accused of being "The Mastermind" of (that it takes over 24 hours to make these bombs which have been plotted for the eight hour flights to America back in August 2006), he has realised that he needs a little head start just in case he is extradited back to the UK, as his flight then will only last, what, some six hours or so??

I've just had it confirmed from my deeply deep undercover insiders that Mr Rauf had managed to conceal two small phials of these binary liquids about his person whilst on the way to the local nick in Islamabad.

By combining these components whilst pouring them into the lock of the handcuffs he was able to micro explode said cuffs open and make good his escape.

Or maybe, Rauf has been abducted or extraordinarily rendered ?_________________The Medium is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan.

Terror suspect Rashid Rauf, wanted in Britain over alleged involvement in a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, was on the run in Pakistan yesterday amid accusations of official collusion in his disappearance.

Rauf managed to escape after freeing himself of his handcuffs as well as police guards after appearing before a judge over extradition proceedings which were expected to see him returned to the UK within weeks.

The British High Commission in Islamabad said the Pakistani interior minister, Hamid Nawaz, had insisted that the capture of 26-year-old Rauf was a "priority" matter and that an urgent investigation was under way.

But his lawyer, Hashamat Habib, claimed that his client's "mysterious disappearance" may be due to the Pakistani authorities' unwillingness to extradite Rauf for fear of possible links emerging between him and the country's intelligence service. He said: "He was under tight security; how it was possible that he escaped like that? Police took my client from Adiala jail on Saturday afternoon for a court appearance in Islamabad and now they say he has escaped. It comes at a time when the British government is trying to extradite him. And it all looks very suspicious to me."

Pakistani interior secretary Kamal Shah said "We are still trying to ascertain exactly where he managed to escape. The two constables are being interrogated for their criminal negligence. This is very sensitive matter, and therefore we have formed an extremely high-level team to investigate and file a report within three days." Other officials said that up to 12 policemen had been questioned over the matter.

According to reports the Pakistani government has demanded greater "reciprocity" in return for handing over Rauf. Islamabad had presented a list of demands, including the extradition of eight suspected members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which is fighting for independence for the province of Balochistan in the south-west of the country. It is also said to have urged the UK to ban the Islamist organisation Hisb-ut-Tahrir which has called for the overthrow of General Pervez Musharraf.

Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in August last year at the request of British authorities along with seven other suspects. He was allegedly part of a plot to carry peroxide based liquid explosives in drink containers, disguised as electronic devices, and combine them on board aircraft to trigger the blasts. He is also wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of his uncle, who was knifed to death in the west Midlands.

Rauf, who holds dual British and Pakistani nationalities, is married to a relation of Maulana Masood Azhar, the head and founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed, an Islamist group which is said to be linked to al-Qa'ida. A brother-in-law, Masood Azhar, was jailed in India for terrorist attacks in Kashmir but then released along with among others, Omar Shiekh, later convicted over the kidnap and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The charges leveled by the British, US and Pakistani regimes that they uncovered a major bomb plot directed against nine US airlines is based on the flimsiest of evidence, which would be thrown out of any court, worthy of its name.

An analysis of the current state of the investigation raises a series of questions regarding the governments' claims of a bomb plot concocted by 24 Brits of Pakistani origin.

The arrests were followed by the search for evidence, as the August 12, 2006 Financial Times states: "The police set about the mammoth task of gathering evidence of the alleged terrorist bomb plot yesterday." (FT, August 12/, 2006) In other words, the arrests and charges took place without sufficient evidence -- a peculiar method of operation -- which reverses normal investigatory procedures in which arrests follow the "monumental task of gathering evidence." If the arrests were made without prior accumulation of evidence, what were the bases of the arrests?

The government search of financial records and transfers turned up no money trail despite the freezing of accounts. The police search revealed limited amounts of savings, as one would expect from young workers, students and employees from low-income immigrant families.

The British government, backed by Washington, claimed that the Pakistani government's arrest of two British-Pakistanis provided "critical evidence" in uncovering the plot and identifying the alleged terrorist. No Western judicial hearing would accept evidence procured by the Pakistani intelligence services that are notorious for their use of torture in extracting 'confessions'. The Pakistani dictatorship's evidence is based on a supposed encounter between a relative of one of the suspects and an Al Qaeda operative on the Afghan border. According to the Pakistani police, the Al Qaeda agent provided the relative and thus the accused with the bomb-making information and operative instructions. The transmission of bomb-making information does not require a trip half-way around the world, least of all to a frontier under military siege by US led forces on one side and the Pakistani military on the other. Moreover it is extremely dubious that Al Qaeda agents in the mountains of Afghanistan have any detailed knowledge of specific British airline security, procedures or conditions of operations in London. Lacking substantive evidence, Pakistani intelligence and their British counterparts touched all the propaganda buttons: A clandestine meeting with Al Qaeda, bomb-making information exchanges on the Pakistani-Afghan border, Pakistani-Brits with Islamic friends, family and terrorist connections in England . . .

US intelligence claimed, and London repeated, that sums of money had been wired from Pakistan to allow the plotters to buy airline tickets. Yet air tickets were found in only one residence (and the airline and itinerary were not stated by the police). None of the other suspects possessed plane tickets and some did not even have passports. In other words, the most preliminary moves in the so-called bomb plot had not been taken by the accused. No terrorist plot to bomb airplanes exists when the alleged conspirators are lacking travel funds, documents and tickets. It is not credible to argue that the alleged conspirators depended on instructions from distant handlers ignorant of the basic ground level conditions.

Initially the British and US authorities claimed that the explosive device was a "liquid bomb," yet no liquid or non-liquid bomb was discovered on the premises or persons of any of the accused. Nor has any evidence been produced as to the capability of any of the suspects in making, moving or detonating the "liquid bomb" -- a very volatile solution if handled by unskilled operatives. No evidence has been presented on the nature of the specific liquid bomb question, or any spoken discussion or written documents about the liquid bomb, which would implicate any of the suspects. No bottle, liquid or chemical formula has been found among any of the suspects. Nor have any of the ingredients that go into making the "liquid bomb" been uncovered. Nor has any evidence been presented as to where the liquid was supposed to come from (the source) or whether it was purchased locally or overseas.

When the liquid bomb story was ridiculed into obscurity, British Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clark claimed that, "bomb making equipment including chemicals and electric components had been found," (BBC News, 8/21/2006)

Once again there is no mention of what "electronic components" and "chemicals" were found, in whose home or office and if they might be related to non-bomb making activities. Were these so-called new bomb-making items owned by a specific person or group of persons, and if so were they known by the parties implicated to be part of a bombing plot. Moreover, when and why have the authorities switched from the liquid bombs to identifying old fashion electronic detonators? Is there any evidence -- documents or taped discussions -- that link these electronic detonators and chemicals with the specific plot to "blow up 9 US bound airliners"?

Instead of providing relevant facts clearing up basic questions of names, dates, weapons, and travel dates, Commissioner Clark gives the press a laundry list of items that could be found in millions of homes and the large number of buildings searched (69 so far). If stair climbing earns promotions, Clark should be nominated for a knighthood. According to Clark the police discovered more than 400 computers, 200 mobile telephones, 8,000 computer media items (items as catastrophic as memory sticks, CDs and DVDs); police removed 6,000 gigabytes of data from the seized computers (150 from each computer) and a few video recordings. One presumes, in the absence of any qualitative data demonstrating that the suspects were in fact preparing bombs in order to destroy nine US airliners, that Commissioner Clark is seeking public sympathy for his minions' enormous capacity to lift and remove electronic equipment from one site to another in up to 69 buildings. This is a notable achievement if we are talking about a moving company and not a high-powered police investigation of an event of "catastrophic consequences."

Some of the suspects were arrested because they have traveled to Pakistan at the beginning of the school year holidays. British and US authorities forget to mention that tens of thousands of Pakistani ex-pats return to visit family at precisely that time of year.

The wise guys on Wall Street and The City of London never took the liquid bomb plot seriously: At no point did the Market respond, nose-dive, crash or panic. The announced plot to bomb airlines was ignored by all Big Players on the US and London stock markets. In fact, petrol prices dropped slightly. In contrast to 9/11 and the Madrid and London bombings (to which this plot is compared) the stock market 'makers' were not impressed by the governments' claims of a 'major catastrophe.' George Bush or Tony Blair, who were informed and discussed the "liquid bomb plot" several days beforehand, didn't even skip a day of their vacations, in response to the catastrophic threat.

And each and every claim and piece of 'evidence' put forth by the police and the Blair and Bush security authorities runs a cropper. Some of the alleged suspects are released, and new equally paltry 'evidence' is breathlessly presented: two tape recordings of "martyr messages" were found in the computer of one suspect, which, we are told, foretold a planned terrorist attack. The Clark team claimed with great aplomb that they found one or a few martyr videotapes, without clarifying the fact that the videos were not made by the suspects but viewed by them. Many people the world over pay homage to suicide martyrs to a great variety of political causes. Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan visits a shrine dedicated to World War II military dead -- including kamikaze suicide pilots, defying Chinese and Korean protests. Millions of US citizens and politicians pay homage to the war heroes in Arlington cemetery each year, some of whom deliberately sacrificed their lives in order to defend their comrades, their flag and the justice of their cause. It should be of no surprise that Asians, Muslims and others should collect videos of anti-Israeli or anti-occupation martyrs. In none of the above cases where people honor martyrs is there any police attempt to link the reverent observer with future suicide bomb plots -- except if they are Muslims. Hero worship of fallen fighters is a normal everyday phenomenon -- and is certainly no evidence that the idolaters are engaged in murderous activity.

A "martyr message" is neither a plot, conspiracy nor action, it is only an expression of free speech -- one might add, 'internal speech' (between the speaker and his computer) which might at some future time become public speech. Are we to make private dialogue a terrorist offense?

As the legal time limit expires on the holding of suspects without charges, the British authorities released two suspects, charged eleven, and eleven others continue to be held without charges, probably because there is no basis for proceeding further. As the number of accused plotters thin out in England, Clark and company have deflected attention to a world-wide plot with links to Spain, Italy, the Middle East and elsewhere. Apparently the logic here is that a wider net compensates for the large holes. In the case at hand, of the eleven who have been remanded to trial, only eight have been charged with conspiracy to prepare acts of terrorism; the other three are accused of "not disclosing information" (or being informers . . . of what?) and "possessing articles useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism." (BBC News, 8/21/06) Since no bombs have been found and no plans of action have been revealed, we are left with the vague charge of 'conspiracy', which can mean a hostile private discussion directed against US and British subjects by several like-thinking individuals. The reason that it appears that ideas and not actions are in question is because the police have not turned up any weapons or specific measures to enter into the locus of attack (air tickets to board planes, passports and so on). How can suspects be charged with failing to disclose information, when the police lack any concrete information pertaining to the alleged bomb plot. The fact that the police are further diluting their charges against three more plotters is indicative of the flimsy basis of their original arrests and public claims. To charge a 17 year-old-boy with "possessing articles useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism" is so open-ended as to be laughable: Did the article have other uses for the boy or for his family (like a box cutter). Did he 'possess' written articles because they were informative or fascinating to a young person? Since he still possessed the article, he had not passed these articles to any person making bombs. Did he know of any specific plans to make bombs or any bomb-makers? The charges could implicate anyone possessing and reading a good spy novel or science fiction thriller in which bomb making is discussed. The eleven have already pleaded innocent; the trial will begin in due time. The government and mass media have already convicted the accused in the electronic and print media. Panic has been sown. Fear and hysterical anger is present in the long security lines at airports and train stations . . . Asian men quietly saying prayers are being pulled off of airplanes and planes diverted or airports evacuated.

The bomb plot hoax has caused enormous losses (in the hundreds of millions of dollars) to the airlines, business people, oil companies, duty free shops, tourist agencies, resorts and hotels, not to speak of the tremendous inconvenience and health related problems of millions of stranded and stressed travelers. The restrictions on laptop computers, travel bags, accessories, special foods and liquid medicines have added to the 'costs' of traveling.

Clearly the decision to cook up the phony bomb plot was not motivated by economic interests, but domestic political reasons. The Blair administration, already highly unpopular for supporting Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was under attack for his unconditional support for Israel's invasion of Lebanon, his refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire and his unstinting support for Bush's servility to US Zionist lobbies. Even within the Labor party over a hundred backbenchers were speaking out against his policies, while even junior cabinet ministers such as Prescott stated that Boss Bush's foreign policy smelled of the barnyard. Bush was not yet cornered by his colleagues in the same way as Blair, but unpopularity was threatening to lead his Republican party to congressional defeat and possible loss of a majority of seats.

According to top security officials in England, Bush and Blair were "knowledgeable" about the investigation into a possible "liquid bomb" plot. We know that Blair gave the go-ahead for the arrests, even as the authorities must have told him they lacked the evidence and at best it was premature. Some reports from British police insiders claim that the Bush Administration pushed Blair for early arrests and the announcement of the 'liquid bomb' plot. Security officials then launched a massive, all-out 'terror propaganda' campaign designed to capture the attention and support of the public with the total support of the mass media. The security-mass media campaign served its objective -- Bush's popularity increased, Blair avoided censure and both continued on their vacations.

The bomb plot political ploy fits the previous political pattern of sacrificing capitalist economic interests to serve domestic political and ideological positions. Foreign policy failures lead to domestic political crimes, just as domestic policy crises lead to aggressive military expansion.

The criminal frame-up of young Muslim-South Asian British citizens by the British security officials was specifically designed to cover up for the failed Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the Anglo-American backing for Israel's destructive but failed invasion of Lebanon. Blair's "liquid bombers" plot sacrificed a multiplicity of British capitalist interests in order to retain political offices and stave off an unceremonious early exit from power. The costs of failed militarism are borne by citizens and businesses.

In an analogous fashion Bush and his Zioncon and other militarists exploited the events of 9/11 to pursue a militarist multi-war strategy in Southwest Asia and the Middle East. With time and scientific research, the official version of the events of 9/11 have come under serious questioning -- both regarding the collapse of one of the towers in New York, as well as the explosions in the Pentagon. The events of 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq sacrificed major US economic interests: Losses in New York, tourism, airline industry and massive physical destruction; losses in terms of a major increase in oil prices and instability, increasing the costs to US, European and Asian consumers and industries.

Likewise the Israeli military invasion of Gaza and Lebanon, backed by the US and Great Britain, were economically costly destroying property, investments and markets, while raising the level of mass anti-imperial opposition.

In other words, the politics of US, British and Israeli (and by extension World Zionist) militarism has been at the expense of strategic sectors of the civilian economy. These losses to key economic sectors require the civilian-militarists to resort to domestic political crimes (phony bomb plots and frame-up trials) to distract the public from their costly and failed policies and to tighten political control. On both counts, the civilian militarists and the Zioncons are losing ground. The "liquid bomb" plot is unraveling, Israel is in turmoil, the Zioncons are preaching to the converted, and the US is, as always, the United States: The Democratic civilian militarists are capitalizing on the failures of their incumbent colleagues.

* James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York, owns a 50-year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser to the landless and jobless in Brazil and Argentina, and is co-author of Globalization Unmasked (Zed Books). His latest book is, The Power of Israel in the United States (Clarity Press, 2006). He can be reached at: jpetras@binghamton.edu.

Three British men have been found guilty of planning to kill people as part of a terrorist plot involving homemade liquid bombs. However, the jury did not find Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain guilty of planning the attacks on transatlantic airliners, as the prosecution claimed.

Eight men were tried altogether as part of the airline bomb plot, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on four of them and the remaining suspect was found not guilty on all counts.

The case caused Britain and the US to introduce strict laws restricting liquids and gels in hand-luggage, causing major security check chaos in airports.According to government sources, the security restrictions could stay in place at British airports for at least five more years until x-ray technology is improved. It is estimated the liquid bomb plot cost the British aviation industry at least 250 million euros.

LONDON — A British jury found three men guilty Monday of conspiracy to murder in a terrorist bombing campaign.

But the jury did not find enough evidence to convict them of a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. Jurors found that Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain conspired to murder people using a form of hydrogen peroxide to make a bomb.

Prosecutors said a group led by Ali considered national infrastructure targets including gas terminals, oil refineries and Heathrow Airport.

However, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on prosecutors' claims that Ali intended to target passenger jets flying to Canada and the United States with suicide attacks.

The jury also failed to reach verdicts on charges against four other defendants - Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan, Waheed Zaman and Umar Islam. An eighth man, Mohammed Gulzar, was found not guilty.

Prosecutor Peter Wright alleged during the trial that the men planned to smuggle liquid explosives onto passenger jets and detonate them in flight in a plot to kill thousands of people.

Wright alleged that Air Canada flights to Montreal and Toronto as well as flights by United Airlines and American Airlines to several U.S. cities were to be targeted.

The unravelling of the plot in the summer of 2006 caused travel chaos.

Restrictions on the amount of liquid passengers can carry in their hand luggage - imposed in the wake of the men's arrest - still remain in place.

I frequently fly and have found some interesting ways to 'test' the system that is now in place. I once got through with a bottle of water simply by placing 2 bottles in my hand luggage. After being challenged by security I surrendered one of the offending bottles and was allowed through.

On a separate occaision I took through a pot of humous (about 200mls) with out any problems.

It is interesting to see how different airports interprete the rules. Some airports such a Berlin luggage is checked twice, once before checking in and again prior to going to the departure lounge. Yet in the departure lounge it is possible to buy bottles of beer to take on board the plane!!! A glass bottle is considerably more effective as a weapon than a nailfile._________________It's not about terror, its about illusion. It's not about war, it's about you

Stop worrying, take risks
Be brave

The revolution has been cancelled - its an evolution and everyone's included

Last time I flew I managed to smuggle a large beaker of coffee past airport security. They checked thoroughly inside my rucsac but didn't seem to notice the hot pint of potentially explosive caffeine rich liquid in my hand.
Who was I to argue with them?

Before a later flight on the same day they stopped a very attractive young student woman friend of mine. They forced her to strip to her underwear and went through everything in her bags thoroughly making her miss her plane and she got the last flight to Bristol arriving after midnight though she had originally turned up early at the airport.

When I flew to Amsterdam this year from Leeds/Bradford airport, I was shaken down for no obvious reason. The guy managed to touch my c*** during the process which was oppressive/titillating_________________http://www.exopolitics-leeds.co.uk/introduction

In January I as well as my companion were both taken aside for a 'random' security check even though we went to different queues to speed up the process. Nobody else was checked so one wonders how random these checks really are? _________________'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'

“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”

Come the day when airport security will make you empty your bladder before you board. Come to think of it they will make you empty your bowels as well as a vndaloo the night before is potentially explosive expecially on top of a guinness or 2.
Sniffer dogs smelling your backside, I shudder to think._________________JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12

What a farce of a country and a world we now live in. I'm sorry but that's all I've got to say right now. Watching the BBC News reports on these 'terrorists' (as they call them) has just made me too tired to think straight.

What a farce of a country and a world we now live in. I'm sorry but that's all I've got to say right now. Watching the BBC News reports on these 'terrorists' (as they call them) has just made me too tired to think straight.

The fact is they want people to despair.
It's not news it's psyops.
That's how these shysters work.
None of the news outlets I've seen have paid any attention to the fact that the jury (however fixed) threw out most of the lies the police and bent lawyers piled on these guys.
Yes, the blokes may well have been 'led along' by NATO intelligence (MI6?) to agree to do all sorts of bad things but no, the entire liquid bombs on airliners BS was proved a hoax.
This is a concerted attempt IMO to prepare, soften up, the public & political classes for another false flag. I blame the crooked cops and credulous journalists who simply don't appear to be able to ask questions any more.

Remember though, that enormous amounts of evil time and effort has to go into all this. It really does seem to be building up to a severe extension of the war - quite how and where though is anyone's guess. They know we don't want to go there and they thrive on that. Trouble with the NATO/Israeli psycopaths is that they believe their own propaganda.

At least we've all played our small part in ensuring that millions around the country will be shaking their heads at the TV tonight.

Saying, like the little girl in 'V for Vendetta' "what a load of rubbish, they don't expect us to believe that do they?".

What evidence? Sounds like evidence was quite thin on the ground, especially as this "open and shut" case resulted in the jury being completely unconvinced.

Didn't watch it, didn't want to so switched off, but even after the result of this farcicle case, it seems Aunty Beeb just could not pass up their continued propaganda with their "Special" Panorama last night

Or maybe, just maybe, they honestly faced up to the fact that this liquid bomb plot was the stuff of James Bond novels, not real life. Nahhh...

So the CPS want a retrial as they didn't get what they wanted. now that the evidence has been thoroughly splashed around the media, how are they supposed to find an impartial jury?

It's that good ol' double standards we've come to expect from this shower of creeps. Somewhat like the rage expressed when the Russians went in to Georgia. A sure sign that the wheels are coming off the old government cart. Only the racist, totally uneducated or terminally lazy buy into this tripe.

Still at least the Airlines are mightily pissed off too. Could it be they have been watching Loose Change too?

Quote:

Air hell for five years: No end to anti-terror baggage measures despite jury verdicts

Air passengers face five more years of bans on carrying liquids in their hand luggage, it has emerged.

The news comes despite the result of a high-profile court trial on Monday which saw eight suspects escape conviction over an alleged plot to blow up planes.

The prosecution alleged they had plotted to target transatlantic airliners with home-made liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks.

But the jury failed to return a verdict on that charge, instead convicting three of conspiracy to murder and clearing one man of all charges.

After the men were arrested in August 2006, restrictions on liquids were brought into place overnight, causing immediate chaos and lengthy delays for travellers at airports across the country.

On Tuesday airlines called for a review of the rules, with the most vociferous comments coming from Virgin Atlantic.

Paul Charles, its director of communications, said passengers were confused by different restrictions in different airports and in different countries.

He added: 'Passengers want more certainty, less confusion and more clarity about restrictions across the world.'

Paul wrote: 'Take a positive optimistic hold wherever you can'- Good advice over the farcical nature of the relentless psy-ops but doesn't it also sound like the motto of the airport frisker who made your acquaintance mate _________________The Peoples United Collective TPUC.ORG

A ridiculous 'plot' covered up by a ridiculous murdered and more lies from 'intelligence sources said' peddled as 'news'.

British Army Expert Casts Doubt On "Liquid Explosives" Threat
August terror plot is a 'fiction' underscoring police failures
Nafeez Ahmed
Lieutenant-Colonel (ret.) Nigel Wylde, a former senior British Army Intelligence Officer, has suggested that the police and government story about the "terror plot" revealed on 10th August was part of a "pattern of lies and deceit." http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Sources_August_Terror_Plot_Fiction_U nderscoring_0918.html

Britain's intelligence services appear to have been kept in the dark about Saturday's US missile attack on a house in northwest Pakistan that reportedly killed Rashid Rauf, a top British al-Qaeda suspect.

Although his death will take a few days to be confirmed officially, the strike by a Predator drone, armed with Hellfire missiles and precision-guided bombs, was the first time that the US had targeted a British suspect hiding in the lawless North Waziristan region of Pakistan.

Two senior MPs yesterday demanded to know whether the British Government had been given notice of the planned attack, which was a CIA operation controlled from a US military base in Nevada.

Patrick Mercer, Tory MP for Newark, said the attack had “ultimately led to the execution of a British subject”. He called for a clear statement from the Government to explain what was known about the planned attack. Andrew Dismore, Labour chairman of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, wanted to know whether British intelligence services had been consulted by the Americans.

Senior British officials, however, made it clear that intelligence of such sensitivity was not automatically shared by the Americans, adding that Saturday's strike was a strictly US operation.

The reported killing of Rauf and four other terrorist suspects, including an Egyptian called Abu Zubair alMasri, appears to have dealt a serious blow to al-Qaeda's network operating from Pakistan's tribal region.

Pakistani authorities confirmed that Rauf was the main target of Saturday's attack on a suspected militant hideout in the border village of Ali Khel in North Waziristan. Information about Rauf's death was based on intercepted communications between militants in the area. The bodies of the five people killed in the attack were removed by local militants who cordoned off the area, making investigation difficult.

Three Hellfire missiles were fired on a mud compound belonging to Khaliq Noor, a tribal elder in Ali Khel village. A few days ago a US Predator attack killed Abdullah Azzam al-Saudi, a senior al-Qaeda member. Six others died in the attack in northwestern Pakistan. Officials from Pakistan and Western government representatives said that eight of the twenty mostwanted men had been killed in the recent US missile raids, bolstering Washington's claim that the strikes in northwestern Pakistan have crippled alQaeda's capacity to launch another terrorist attack on the West.............

LONDON (AFP) — British-Pakistani terror suspect Rashid Rauf is still alive, his lawyer told the BBC on Monday, saying reports that he had died in a US missile attack in Pakistan were "fake."

The alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind of a 2006 transatlantic jet bombing conspiracy was reportedly killed at the weekend in a US raid in a northwestern border district that is a known stronghold of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

"We don't believe that this story is true... It is a fake story," lawyer Hashmat Ali Habib told BBC radio, adding: "We still believe that my client, Rashid, is alive."

He noted that requests for Rauf's body to be returned to his family had not been answered. "This is a new technique of the government to dispose of the cases like Rashid or other missing people," he said.

Rauf died Saturday when a missile hit a tribesman's house in the village of Alikhel, a Pakistani security official told AFP.

The strike site is in a lawless tribal territory and militants there usually surround the place after such attacks, preventing access of government representatives or the army, before burying the bodies themselves.

Rauf was arrested in 2006 in Pakistan over the bomb plot and 24 people were detained in Britain in a major swoop.

A day later a massive security operation at London Heathrow Airport resulted in mass cancellations for several days, amid fears of a terrorist attack using liquid explosives on London flights bound for North America.

The Foreign Office said Saturday it was probing reports that Rauf had been killed. "We are currently investigating this at the moment, but we do not have any information," a spokesman said.

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